Project Ink is an event management and design consultancy with a rota of high profile clients looking to enhance and promote their profile, services and image.
Working on a project with Kuoni, the luxury travel company famous for their safari holidays, Project Ink commissioned us to fabricate a 2.5m high, 2.4m long and 1.4m wide elephant in artificial grass. This big beast was to be the focal point for a Kuoni sponsored event at BBC ‘Countryfile Live’ that took place at beautiful Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire in August.
Over 4 gloriously sunny days at the event our elephant wowed the public and presenters alike and gave Kuoni fabulous publicity for their expertly curated holiday packages. The reaction on social media was glowing – as these posts show.
A giant topiary elephant has arrived! We're nearly ready on site here for #countryfilelive
— BBC Countryfile Live (@Countryfilelive) August 1, 2018
Yesterday's delivery of the elephant to our @KuoniTravelUK stand @Countryfilelive #countryfilelive #safari pic.twitter.com/gfLL6TSmpw
— Kuoni Winchester (@KuoniWinchester) August 2, 2018
@BBCCountryfile Team Kuoni and the Kuoni Elephant with the lovely Matt Baker @KuoniTravelUK pic.twitter.com/vbwr0q9l40
— Katie Lane (@Snowden_12lane) August 2, 2018
We are loving the talks by the Countryfile presenters at the Great Barn and the spectacle of the Kuoni travel elephant 🐘 here @Countryfilelive Don’t forget we’re in the @countrylivinguk Pavilion on stand 19! #countryfilelive #countryfile @BlenheimPalace #oxfordshire #whatson pic.twitter.com/v0rKBnT1B1
— Sophie Morrell (@_sophiemorrell) August 4, 2018
Loving the @KuoniTravelUK topiary elephant at #countryfilelive pic.twitter.com/h5JIyD4wgP
— Lucy Upton (@mslucyupton) August 5, 2018
Found an elephant in Oxfordshire at #countryfilelive 👍👍👍 pic.twitter.com/jAJu7tK76M
— Kate Sutton (@Kateannasutton) August 4, 2018
The kids loving the elephant @KuoniTravelUK @KuoniWinchester @Degsycom! How much do you want for it...the deal must include delivery @Countryfilelive #countryfilelive #Cruise #Travel pic.twitter.com/BKAbisziIe
— Robbie White (@Robbie_White_1) August 4, 2018
A giant topiary elephant has arrived! We're nearly ready on site here for #countryfilelive
— BBC Countryfile Live (@Countryfilelive) August 1, 2018
If you need a topiary elephant then contact us today! We'd be delighted to help you!
Quantcast is a company on a mission to help brands grow in the AI era. They are in the business of creating algorithms or ‘systems of intelligence’ for the online ‘marketing ecosystem’ so their clients can make smarter, faster and more relevant contact with their customers.
Quantcast recently launched ‘Q’ - the world’s largest AI-driven audience behaviour platform for the open Internet. Agrumi was commissioned to help with the UK PR and built this massive 150cm tall ‘Q’.
The result is pretty impressive and eye-catching and shows how Agrumi topiary can be used to enhance and reinforce PR messages.
Thanking us for our work Quantcast’s Marketing Associate Hannah McDougall said:
"The Q was a massive success!"
Want to see your company logo in topiary form? Get in touch for a free estimate!
“We are so pleased with the work Agrumi did!”
- Steve Hewlett, Manager, ‘Retail Birmingham’
Dippy, the Natural History Museum's iconic Diplodocus cast has been touring the UK on a natural history adventure. He’s been visiting some of this country’s incredible natural history collections and will be at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until 9 September 2018.
A few months ago Retail Birmingham – which promotes and supports businesses in the city centre - got in touch. Dippy’s forthcoming visit provided an ideal opportunity for some dinosaur-related PR to promote their fantastic local shops and restaurants.
We were commissioned to create five 2m x 1m topiary animals to be displayed in bespoke planters sourced and planted by the local parks team. The installations would be exhibited in key central locations and provide focal points of interest for the museum, Dippy’s tour and Birmingham’s commercial sector.
Using the Natural History Museum’s own ‘top 5’ list of their visitors’ favourite dinosaurs we made a Stegosaurus, Tyrannosauras, Diplodicus, Coelophysis and Triceratops. Retail Birmingham told us that the pieces needed to be weather and vandal-proof as well as fire retardant. Artificial boxwood is an ideal choice for this situation and the product we use is both lifelike and robust.
“Great to see the dinosaurs arrives today – they look really good!”
“We’ve started to put the dinosaurs out and already had a great reaction!”
The photos speak for themselves and the public reaction was so positive that a ‘Retail Birmingham’ immediately ordered an extra T-Rex and Stegosaurus. Shortly afterwards three more animals were commissioned – an Allosaurus, Velociraptor and Brachiosaurus.
Delighted with the commission Retail Birmingham just launched a film about the project in time for the summer holidays. Watch it here:
Birmingham's had an owl trail, a bear trail, and now it's getting a dinosaur topiary trail. @retailbid is placing 10 around the city and asking people to share selfies with all 10 using hashtag #DippyOnTour and tagging @ShoppingInBham in a multiple-image Instagram post. pic.twitter.com/7LUBL2YqFv
— BBC Midlands Today (@bbcmtd) June 4, 2018
Great to see families enjoying the Big In The City Dino Trail on this fine sunny day in Birmingham city centre. #DippyOnTour pic.twitter.com/VAGofzpu2M
— Retail BID (@retailbid) August 30, 2018
#DippyonTour @retailbid my children where super happy to see dippy, Jack was telling us the name of the dinos on the trail #happymemories pic.twitter.com/iGCTbMlDAb
— Bryan Edwards (@Bryandedwards77) August 19, 2018
Our dinosaurs have returned from their weekend break! Don't forget to take a selfie with all 10 and tag us on Instagram using the hashtag #DippyOnTour to be entered into our £500 shopping vouchers competition. If you're a retailer that needs more trail maps in store, let us know! pic.twitter.com/LBxDKyY2HQ
— Retail BID (@retailbid) July 16, 2018
What fantastic weather, a perfect day to do the @retailbid Big in the City dino trail! And remember you have a chance to win £500 worth of shopping vouchers in the @ShoppingInBham comp for your dino-selfies! Find out more & download the map https://t.co/5RaD82GVLy #dippyontour pic.twitter.com/SmMIbelwpw
— Birmingham Museums (@BM_AG) June 26, 2018
Ok I think this is all 10 seen over the last 2 weeks! #DippyonTour @ShoppingInBham @retailbid pic.twitter.com/gruukvrihb
— Elliott Brown (@ellrbrown) June 13, 2018
A lovely day in Birmingham. So much going on all for free. We visited #DippyonTour @BM_AG we went dinosaur hunting around Birmingham with @retailbid and sat on deck chairs eating our lunch @BhamDanceFest. Well done Brum 👏#welovebrum #birmingham #WestMidlands #free #familyfun pic.twitter.com/KP3AM0HR7b
— Family fun in Brum (@Familyfuninbham) June 8, 2018
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Hedging my bets to discover dinosaurs before they become extinct. #dippyontour @shoppinginbham
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Thought this was so cool!! #nofilter #dippyontour #dippyontourbirmingham #trex
If you’re looking for topiary dinosaurs or need something to spruce up your high street then contact us today!
Lush makes cosmetics by hand from natural ingredients. None of its products are tested on animals and the company is rightly proud of this claim - which it advertises through its fighting hares logo.
Focusing on the hares for a media event, Lush came to us to ensure that their logo was larger than life and eye-catching enough to take centre stage with journalists.
We created the animals’ outlines expertly as usual using our tried and tested frame fabrication methods and the resulting skeletons were covered in moss for ease of transport, handling, care and longevity.
Lush now has an ecologically friendly version of its logo that it can use again and again at events to promote the company and its ethos about the welfare on animals.
Lush indeed!
If you're interested in some topiary hares or would like to see your company logo recreated in topiary then get in touch with us!
The 2017 London Frieze Art Fair was a huge success and Agrumi helped one exhibitor gain a coveted Focus Stand Prize.
Various Small Fires (VSF) is a small Los Angeles-based gallery that acts for a number of artists of international standing, At Frieze this year the gallery chose to showcase a work by Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison (collectively known as ‘The Harrisons’).
The Harrisons live in Santa Cruz, California and pioneered the Ecological Art Movement back in the 70s. The movement promotes climate change solutions through art and their Survival Piece V Part II: Lemon Orchard Fragment is an early work dating from 1972.
This installation features lemon trees growing under photosynthetic lights and was originally intended to have dual meaning. Firstly, it acted as a critique of human kind’s influence on the planet’s ecosystems and secondly, it was a practical experiment for the indoor cultivation of fruit in a post-agricultural future.
VSF chose to partner with Agrumi to re-create Survival Piece V Part II at Frieze in October. We sourced and planted Meyer lemon trees (a particularly hardy citrus breed) in specially constructed tubs that were then co-located under photosynthetic lights.
The look of the whole installation exactly replicated the appearance of Survival Piece V Part II as it had originally appeared over 40 years ago – although on a smaller scale. The installation was completed with surviving drawings and other ephemera from the 1972 original and visitors were again able to walk among the trees as they had done before.
The ‘portable orchard’ caught the eye of the Frieze judges (Richard Parry Director of Glasgow International, Christopher Lew Curator of the Whitney Museum and Hanne Mugaas Director of the Kunsthalle, Stavanger) and won the Focus Stand Prize.
This coup for VSF and Agrumi was doubly rewarding. Not only did it recognize the hard work that went in to bringing the installation to life again, it also allowed us to promote a serious ecological message. Following their sojourn at frieze the Meyer lemon trees have been replanted in an orchard.
If you need something green on your trade stand then get in touch!
… that ‘The Night Gardener’ is a brilliant book. We were preening our feathers after being asked by Quarto Publishing to help them market this fantastic new addition to children’s literature.
The book tells the story of a topiary expert who transforms a miserable and grey street into a place of joy and colour by completing amazing topiaries by night while the street’s residents sleep.
The book’s cover features a beautiful owl, which Agrumi’s own topiary expert deftly copied in artificial Boxwood. This material was chosen over living plants because the figures would feature in the window displays of various popular London bookshops from the hardback launch at the beginning of 2017 to the paperback launch extending into 2018.
The figures would need little or no attention and would continue looking as good as the day they were made however long they were displayed and in however many different venues.
Commenting on the reception of the topiary owls at Quarto Head Office, Christopher Ransom said:
"They sent everyone in our office mad with excitement, and the likeness is amazing! Couldn’t be happier!"
The Owls have arrived to Quarto HQ! So much excitement for @QuartoKids #TheNightGardener #Publishing #Owls #Books pic.twitter.com/KIsMoC3tTn
— Emma Clifford (@Emma_Cliffo) January 31, 2017
Best. Delivery. Ever. Two large topiary owls just like in the book #TheNightGardener pic.twitter.com/gg2BZkZhOV
— Ellen John (@EllenRJohn) January 31, 2017
Too-wit Too-woo! Our topiary owl resplendent in the window! Thank you @QuartoKids #thenightgardener is pure picture book joy! @EllenRJohn pic.twitter.com/fSDmusDckb
— Sevenoaks Bookshop (@7OaksBookshop) February 6, 2017
New work buddies looking after our beautiful copies of The Night Gardener @QuartoKids pic.twitter.com/jKBT62Isb1
— Lucie Uwarow (@BookishLulu) February 7, 2017
Our 2nd wise owl has found a perch @talesonmoonlane @opifan64 @igo2cairo drop in a see him this half term! #TheNightGardener #kidlitart pic.twitter.com/X0Zc1XZD2A
— Quarto Kids (@QuartoKids) February 15, 2017
Our favourite touring owl has found a splendid new perch at @HuntingRavenBks Drop in & say hello! #TheNightGardener @opifan64 @igo2cairo pic.twitter.com/jNdfdiHzf9
— Quarto Kids (@QuartoKids) June 7, 2017
Our owl's doing the rounds! Looking studious at @Ink84Books over copies of #TheNightGardener ✂️ @opifan64 @igo2cairo #books #kidlit pic.twitter.com/X9gcAApBRB
— Quarto Kids (@QuartoKids) March 23, 2017
We're thrilled to welcome The Night Gardener's beautiful topiary owl to Kew!Thanks so much @QuartoKids @opifan64 #twittwoo #thenightgardener pic.twitter.com/ITsbsuqk4z
— The Kew Bookshop (@kewbookshop) May 10, 2017
Meet the newest team member @QuartoKids the topiary owl inspired by The Night Gardener! Which is in the shop just waiting to be read pic.twitter.com/7icEZtkzWa
— Chorleywood Bookshop (@CWBookshop) June 28, 2017
If much-loved children’s author Enid Blyton had still been alive she would have celebrated her 120th birthday last year with the cherry on the cake that it was also 75 years since her first ‘Famous Five’ book was published.
Blyton’s 21 books in the eponymous series have charmed and engaged generations of children. Those children often grew into adults inspired by Blyton with a love of the outdoors and a special interest in plants, wildlife and gardening.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) planned a fitting tribute to her this summer across all four of its beautiful gardens. Each garden devised a ‘Five Go on a Garden Adventure’ trail. A range of exciting events and activities was also devised involving exploring, den building, orienteering, bush craft, art, storytelling and story writing. The culmination of all the events in each garden was a mass picnic party on 11 August.
Having successfully worked with the RHS before, the organisers at the Wisley garden came to Agrumi when they decided to realise Blyton’s five main characters – Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog – in topiary. We worked closely together to design and fabricate the characters so that they retained key elements of the personality attributed to them by Blyton. Our plan was to ensure that each figure would be instantly recognisable to the author had she time travelled between the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The photo shows how successful Agrumi’s Head topiarist has been in bringing Blyton’s characters to 3D life through wire and plants.
The Agrumi contribution to the RHS’s tribute was significant and a fitting ‘green’ homage to Blyton the environmentalist and champion of natural things.
If you need some topiary figures for your park or garden then get in touch with us.
The world-class alternative floral art show ‘Chelsea in Bloom’ was back this year for its 12th Anniversary. Produced in association with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), it transformed the local streets in May when the area’s best retailers, restaurants and hotels adorned their buildings with breathtaking floral displays and competed for the show’s coveted awards.
This year’s theme ‘Floral Safari’ inspired the retailers to explore the creative design potential of exotic animals, savannahs, plains and jungles. Each entrant turned to experts for help and Agrumi was on hand to ensure that two entrants won big.
This private members club on Lower Sloane Street is lucky enough to have an in-house florist – Carter Cherrill. Carter designed the Club’s display to highlight the plight of the African elephant - a majestic animal that is being hunted to extinction. The intention was to use the publicity garnered from the prestigious ‘Chelsea in Bloom’ event to focus attention on this serious ecological issue.
Agrumi was asked to create a 2-metre long topiary female African elephant in typical pose - trunk held high protecting its child. There are key physiological differences between African and Indian elephants and it would have been a serious mistake for Agrumi to misrepresent them. Carter and Agrumi complemented the beauty of the wild beasts with natural planting.
The hard work and attention to detail paid off and the RHS judges awarded the display a silver medal.
Smythson, the Sloane Street-based luxury leather goods retailer, brought florist Amanda Willgrave on board to design their display. She in turn commissioned Agrumi to bring her design vision into reality.
Honouring Smythson’s 125 year-old archive, Amanda wanted to tell a story based on the golden age of travel. The resulting window treatment transported visitors to the African Savannah and the world-famous Giraffe Manor in Kenya. Life-sized mother and baby topiary giraffes, designed and made by Agrumi, flanked the entrances to Smythson’s boutique and welcomed guests into the store. The animals were surrounded by acacia and moss planting complemented with an array of indigenous African foliage and plants. Agrumi also made a separate giraffe head as a focal point for an interior display.
Amanda’s design and Agrumi’s execution of her vision enchanted the public and judges alike and it was awarded 2nd place and ‘highly commended’.
Fifty years ago, June 1967 ushered in the ‘Summer of Love’ to the accompaniment of the Beatles’ masterwork ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. The album cover featured groundbreaking artwork and has since become an icon in its own right.
Clifton Nurseries in Maida Vale, London (now owned by Gavin Jones Ltd) supplied the plants featured on the original album cover. To mark this important point in UK social and music history and Clifton’s part in it, Gavin Jones Ltd decided to create a plant installation loosely based on the album cover. The installation was destined for display at Chiswick House Gardens (where Gavin Jones Ltd maintain the grounds) and where also the videos for some of the Sgt Pepper’s tracks were filmed.
Looking for an unusual approach towards the display, Gavin Jones Ltd decided to focus on the flowerbed at the bottom of the album cover. Obviously no display of this sort would be complete without the figures of the Beatles themselves and, seeking the best in the business to supply topiary models of John, Paul, George and Ringo based on their images on the album cover, Gavin Jones Ltd came to Agrumi. No further discussion was needed. We grasped the creative intention immediately and were delighted to accept the challenge of literally bringing the 2D album cover to 3D life.
Agrumi’s brief was to incorporate colour in the replication of the Fab Four’s famous military costumes. But, because the installation was to feature at the RHS Chelsea Fringe and Hampton Court after Chiswick House Gardens, it was decided that living flowers would be less robust and long-lived that dyed moss. The final design was made with robust, long-stranded, texturally attractive New Zealand sphagnum moss.
Agrumi’s topiarist excelled himself with the fabrication of these figures and we were proud to play a pivotal role in celebrating the birth of this national and international totem of musical progress.
Clifton Nurseries: Celebrating 50 Years of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Gavin Jones: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Garden Feature at Chiswick House
You can never have too much of a good thing!
No sooner had we finished our Red Shanked Douc monkey project for the Body Shop than we were contacted by Stephan Hammar one of the gardeners at the beautiful 19 th -century Trädgårdsföreninge in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The park is celebrating its 175 th birthday and the staff particularly wanted to commemorate Ricky and Tony - two chimpanzees that lived in the 1878 Palm House which had been designed and built by the British firm Alexander Shanks & Sons.
Stephan explained that pictures of our “wonderful” Red Shanked Douc monkeys had caught the park staffs’ attention and they commissioned us to make two topiary chimpanzees for the Palm House. The analogy between the Red Shanked Douc and Shanks & Sons seemed serendipitous too.
There are many anatomical differences between the Red Shanked Douc and its more prosaic cousin the chimpanzee. Never ones to shirk a design challenge we carefully researched the physical appearance of the chimpanzee and, as the photo shows, we captured every nuance of limb length, head shape and characteristic body pose.
As usual the project was delivered on time and within budget and it was gratifying to get Stephan’s response thanking us for the “great design” and letting us know that the chimps were “hugely appreciated by our visitors.”
